Friday, April 14, 2017

The Washington Capitals took a 1-0 lead over the Toronto
Maple Leafs in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, thanks to an
overtime game-winner from Tom Wilson.Unconventionally achieved, it was hardly an unconventional result for
this franchise in Games 1 of the postseason.But we get ahead of ourselves.The cousins have their own unique takes on what happened and what we
might look at going forward in this series.

Cheerless… Tom Wilson’s game-winning goal was the first goal
of any kind for him in his postseason career in his 29 career playoff
game.It was only his second
game-winning goal in 342 career regular and postseason games.It was his first career overtime game-winning
goal in any NHL season, regular or post.Not bad for a guy Mike Babcock wasn’t concerned about.

Fearless… Now hold on.Wilson getting that goal was a fine way to end an evening that could
have gone a lot differently, and there is something to be said about the value
of bulletin board material, even when you have to embellish things to make it “bulletin
boardable.”They say Michael Jordan did
it all the time, to work up a healthy seething over his opponent.But let’s look at what Babcock said in full…

“Nothing against (Wilson), because he works hard and all
that, but he’s not as big of concern as a lot of people on their team. He’s a
forechecker and he works hard, I think their fourth line has been real good for
them. In saying that, they’ve got a lot of players that we’ll concern ourselves
with more.”

Babcock said Wilson works hard, he’s a forechecker, the line
he plays on is a good one for the Caps.But there are players with whom he has more concern.And what is false about any of that?Yes, the Caps fourth line might be very good,
perhaps (as Pierre McGuire alluded last night) the best fourth line in
hockey.But no one game plans for Tom
Wilson (or Jay Beagle or Daniel Winnik or even a Lars Eller or a Marcus
Johansson, for that matter).

*****

Fearless…All in all,
Wilson getting that goal might have been an unexpected denouement, but it was
certainly consistent with the way the game unfolded after the first ten
minutes.The Caps were the better team
in the last 55 minutes of the game, and this bodes well going forward.

Cheerless… Now, I might be dumb as a sack of rocks, but even
I know that we’ve seen this cartoon before.We don’t even have to go back to when Craig Laughlin played to see what
we’re talkin’ about, either.Since
2007-2008, the Caps have won six times in Game 1 of a series on home ice.Four times, they lost the series.Is this team different?Well, they’d better be.

*****

Cheerless… The Caps had 44 shots on goal last night, and
Alex Ovechkin had one of them.The Caps
seem to have dodged a bullet with that one, with Ovechkin being a non-factor on
offense.

Fearless… That was the 12th time in Ovechkin’s
postseason career that he recorded one or no shots on goal in a game.The Caps are 4-8 in those games, four of the
losses coming in overtime.But here’s
the thing.The Caps have now won the
last three instances in which Ovechkin was held to one or no shots.Maybe the team is more balanced than it has
been in the early days of his playoff career.

*****

Fearless… Braden Holtby shook off a shaky start, one in
which the defense in front of him might have been a bit tighter, and had a
solid game.Even with the two goals in
the first ten minutes, he stopped 35 of 37 shots, the last 26 in
succession.That won’t be good news for
the Leafs.

Cheerless… Allowing 35 or more shots on goal is something of
a crap shoot with the Caps and Holtby in particular.Last night was the 17th time in
his postseason career that Holtby faced 35 or more shots in a game.His record is now 8-9 in those games.Six of those losses have come in overtime
(not surprising, as shot values go up as time goes by).

“Maybe we was a little bit nervous, maybe kind of feel the
pressure a little bit.” (Alex Ovechkin)

“We have to be better.Otherwise a team like this is going to take advantage of it.” (Nicklas
Backstrom)

“A really good wake-up call for us.” (Barry Trotz)

Nervous? A wake-up call?This isn’t the first barn dance for these guys.Yeah, it’s not playing the Devils on a
Tuesday night in January, so some level of nervousness is to be expected.But where on the scale between “jitters” and “paralyzing
stage fright” did this sit?And who
needs a wake-up call in April?More to
the point, what team that can be well thought-of as being a real contender to
go deep in a playoff needs a wake-up call?These are not the kind of Game 1 comments that are going to give Caps
Nation a warm and cozy feeling.

Fearless… Well, maybe this comment will make you – and Caps
Nation – feel a bit better…

“There was no panic. The
first 10 minutes we don’t have the structure we want, we don’t have the start
we want, and they used that. After that, I think, we just do the same thing
over and over, and it worked.”

Seems to me the Captain said it best.

*****

Peerless… In Game 1, the difference between the youthful, if
unchanneled exuberance of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the jittery, if not
panicky early performance of the Washington Capitals was Justin Williams.He is a pro’s pro and was one of the few Caps
who started the game with a suitable level of intensity and, just as important,
maintained it throughout.His two goals
came from hard parts of the ice…low slot/top of the crease, and kept the Caps in
the game when it could have slipped away from them.You have to want it at this time of year, and
Williams has been doing that his whole career.This is the template on which the team must build, replicating Williams’
steely resolve about knowing what needs to be done at this time of year and
doing it.

WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED PROGRAMMING

The Washington Capitals ended the 2016-2017 as one of 12 franchises in the NHL never to win a Stanley Cup. Of that group, only the St. Louis Blues (48 seasons), Buffalo Sabres (45 seasons), and Vancouver Canucks (45 seasons) have gone longer never having won a Cup than the Capitals (41 seasons). Six teams came into the league after the Capitals entered the league in 1974-1975 and have won Stanley Cups: Colorado Rockies/New Jersey Devils (1976-1977), Edmonton Oilers (1979-1980), Quebec Nordiques/Colorado Avalanche (1979-1980), Hartford Whalers/Carolina Hurricanes (1979-1980), Tampa Bay Lightning (1992-1993), and the Anaheim Ducks (1993-1994).

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